GlaxoSmithKline is acquiring California biopharmaceutical firm Sierra Oncology for $1.9 billion in a deal expected to help both companies take a major step in developing a treatment for rare types of cancer.
When AstraZeneca presented positive updated results from the Phase III ASCEND study of CALQUENCE (acalabrutinib), it marked an important milestone for the company as the jewel in the crown of what management hopes will become a significant hematology portfolio. That study was significant for patients, too, because it represented a landmark 36 months of follow-up in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is considered an incurable disease.
The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson has a presence in more than 80 of the hematology studies presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in December.
Bristol Myers Squibb plunked down $475 million for the exclusive license to Dragonfly Therapeutics’ interleukin-12 (IL-12) investigational immunotherapy program, including the extended half-life cytokine DF6002 as a potential treatment for solid and hematological cancers.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Acceleron Pharma announced that the company’s Phase II clinical trial of ACE-083 in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) failed to show functional improvement.
Shares of Dova Pharmaceuticals were up more than 38 percent after Sweden-based Sobi announced the intended acquisition of the North Carolina-based company for $915 million.
Rare diseases specialist Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi) agreed to buy the drug emapalumab and is reorganizing to increase focus on late-stage development in hematology and immunology.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. will discontinue a late-stage study testing the company’s experimental treatment for amyloidosis, which did not meet the first of two main goals.
Clinical-stage immuno-oncology company Forty Seven Inc. announced a collaboration with Acerta Pharma, AstraZeneca’s hematology research and development center of excellence.
AbbVie is slashing 178 jobs from the company’s Stemcentrx subsidiary in South San Francisco.